HOLLOW EARTH

 

 

         

 

I was born in Walthamstow East London and I grew interested in music through listening to my Dad's record collection.  At home I'd hear music blasting from Holst and Tchaikovsky, to the Moody Blues and ELP with a bit of Tijuana Brass and James Last thrown in at Christmas times.  I was pretty much exposed to a lot of different styles.  Despite developing a passion for learning more, I could never get the hang of reading or writing music and so I dismissed it with the excuse that it was only available to posh kids who's parents could afford the lessons!  To this day I cannot understand a single note but I was determined to play an instrument.

By my mid teens I was beginning to create a noise on guitar and I was tinkering about on a piano which was given to me by a friends parents, I immediately painted it bright blue!....as you do!!  I began to invite people over to make an absolute din with anything that.......made an absolute din, much to my parents dismay!  In the evenings I began listening to abstract mood music from Tangerine Dream and totally improvised albums from the likes of Amon Duul 2.  At the same time my friends were listening to the usual Gary Glitter and T Rex, like most other people.

One Saturday afternoon Dad came home with a copy of 'Close to the Edge' by Yes and it changed my view of music forever.  I began to appreciate the mix of drums, bass, guitars and synthesizers with classical orchestration.  Yes had pulled together everything that I had been listening to before and it was presented to me on one LP.  It was rock guitars, symphonic keyboards with sound effects and intricate rhythms, all held together with passionate singing and harmonies.  I found light and shade, bright colours and dark moods from the best band ever.  The seventies 'prog rock scene' which Yes helped create gave modern music that classical feeling.  Later I would discover the earlier LP 'Days of Future past' by the Moody Blues which was a perfect blend of 'rock meets the orchestra'.  This was it; my mind was opened to a new world.   

My parents took me and my sisters to see West End shows like 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Godspell' starring a very young David Essex.  I was still an impressionable teenager and just sitting in the theatre added more passion to my already inquisitive imagination.  Finally, some time around 1975 and aged about 17 or 18 I managed to get to see Yes live at QPR football ground.  It is to this day the most memorable musical experience for me ever.  That rock extravaganza is my benchmark.  It made me more determined to understand what I needed to do.  Within months I joined my first band.

 

 

Over the years I've accrued a countless catalogue of tales about so many bands that I've been with plus an enormous amount of experience working with so many crackpot musicians.  I have toured abroad with professionals, occasionally rubbing shoulders with some famous people, and I have also put together my own bands.  I've been happy to perform as a background member or as a singer/front man because it's simply the doing of it which I love. 

Thirty years later and I have come full circle.  I am happy now playing locally within Hollow Earth because finally, it is the band that I have always wanted.  Hollow Earth to me is a fitting tribute to those artists and bands who inspired me years ago to do better.  What more of a 'thank you' is there than to perform their material and keep them, and 'prog' alive.  I am so fortunate to find myself with the right people who can make this band work.

 

As for the future, my dream is to hear my musical 'Skylight' which I penned for a rock/orchestra, played to me (and my Dad) live!......but someone has to write the music out, find an orchestra and then a huge venue first!!

 

 

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